Loading map...

1952 Map of Big Dune

Name: 1952 Topographic Map of Big Dune
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1953
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1953

About this map

The Amargosa Desert landscape of the early 1950s is defined by the remnants of earlier settlement and the dry path of the Amargosa River. This survey captures a moment when the regional infrastructure was in transition, most notably marked by the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, which is shown here as a dismantled line running north toward Tonopah. Several former hubs are reduced to locations of historical interest, including Ashton, Lees Camp, and Leeland.

In the southwest, the boundary of Death Valley National Monument skirts the Funeral Mountains, near landmarks like Echo Mtn and Echo Canyon. This map also preserves the Von Schmidt Line, a historical 1873 survey boundary that cuts diagonally across the basin. From the prominent Big Dune to the heights of Yucca Mountain and the expansive Crater Flat, the map details a terrain punctuated by prospects and dry wells like Roses Well.